Apparently cyber bullies are crashing "High School Musical."

Panda Security today said it's finding all sorts of malware in downloadable HSM songs and videos that are being found through online searches. (As opposed to the material delivered by the Seattle-based Disney Internet Group.)

From the release:

When users run one of these fake files they may expect to hear songs from the film or see a video clip, yet all that will happen is that the computer will be infected by VB.ADQ, the Agent.KGR Trojan, the adware Koolbar, or another strain of malicious code. Some of these might display images related to the film when they are run, but this is just to avoid arousing suspicion.

The company advises people to "take care when downloading files, and in particular, to check the file extension, as many of the malicious files have the extension '.exe,,' which is rarely the case with a genuine music or video file."

Believe it or not, people are more willing to line up in wee hours to get a deal on Black Friday this year, according to a survey released by Consumer Reports.

It said 26 percent of consumers it polled plan to brave the frenzied crowds and go shopping the day after Thanksgiving. That's up 5 points from the 21 percent who shopped on B.F. last year.

Seattle real estate search service Estately added a nice new feature: The ability to see past sales prices of houses listed for sale.

Estately noted that you can use this to see if a house for sale is being flipped or hasn't changed hands for a long time.

That's public information available from entities like King County, but it's nice to have it on hand when searching house listings. Estately's contracting with Cyberhomes for the info.

Estately's also expanding its service to the Chicago area and Long Island (but not New York City, where it's trickier to get the MLS information Estately uses).

Co-founder Galen Ward said Estately's seeing annualized 300 percent growth, by the way.

Microsoft's Zune still isn't going to catch Apple's iPod, but you've got to give the group credit for creative approaches to music licensing.

Zune is announcing Thursday that people who subscribe to its $15 per month Zune Pass subscription music service will be able to download and keep 10 songs a month. It also cut device prices earlier this week, with the base 4 gigabyte model falling to $99 from $129.

While Steve Ballmer was making his case to Microsoft shareholders this morning, representatives of the state's video game industry were across the street at Bellevue City Hall, making their pitch to Lt. Gov. Brad Owen and the state Legislative Committee on Economic Development and International Relations.

The electeds were reviewing the economics of the video game industry. It was also a chance for the industry to strut its stuff while state budget proposals are being developed.

Although other cities and countries are trying to lure game companies, the Seattle area is doing pretty well. It's among the world centers for game development, with more than 150 companies employing more than 15,000 people.

Washington also ranked the second best state in the nation for its "new economy" climate, in a report issued today by the Washington, D.C.-based Information Technology & Information Foundation. The state gained two spots from the group's 2007 report, trailing only perennial leader Massachusetts.

Continued support of education was one concern mentioned by panelists including Jason Robar, founder of Issaquah game company The Amazing Society, and Raymond Yan, chief operating officer of DigiPen in Redmond.

Game companies already benefit from state research and development tax breaks. Given the economic situation, they're not going to be asking the state for much more in 2009, said Lew McMurran, WTIA vice president for government affairs.

TeachStreet, a Seattle startup offering an online directory of instructional services, is expected to announce today that it's expanding to San Francisco.

Actually it was supposed to make the announcement a couple of days ago but it's been working out a few last-minute kinks.

Founder Dave Schappell said the expansion will add an additional 65,000 teachers and classes in the greater San Francisco area, more than doubling the site's current 50,000 entries from its initial coverage of the Seattle and Portland markets.

Wireless mogul Craig McCaw has been quietly building a video news service with similarities to the hit video service Hulu, but with broadcast news instead of feature material.

Harsh news from comScore: October's online retail sales grew 1 percent over October 2007, the lowest monthly growth since the firm began tracking the sector in 2001.

From the release:

"The overall softness in online retail spending was precipitated by curtailed spending across mid to lower income segments, with households earning less than $50,000 exhibiting negative spending growth compared to a year ago."

Now didn't comScore just tell us that lower-income people were buying iPhones like crazy? Maybe they don't have anything left.

Rich folks were still spending in late summer, comScore said: growth in the over $100,000 demographic was up 14 percent from August through October, versus 1 percent growth in the $50k to $99k segment that accounts for most online retail and minus 3 percent in the under $50k set.

But everything changed in October so we'll have to wait for the next month's report for a clearer picture. I wonder if early holiday sales will be enough to keep growth in positive territory.

The montly data excludes automotive, auction, corporate and travel purchases.